The São Paulo 6 Hours allowed Cadillac to claim its first-ever win in the World Endurance Championship after a rather dull race.
The American manufacturer finished ahead of Porsche, BMW and Peugeot, while Ferrari and Toyota were completely absent from the fight.
Given such a mix up in the order, you'll want to stay tuned for our winners and losers, which also includes the son of an ex-Ferrari Formula 1 driver bringing the local crowd to its feet.
Winner: Porsche
Even after qualifying, Porsche remained the favourite heading into this fifth race of the season. But despite leading 42 laps, the #5 963 of Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen missed out on second place by just 1.8 seconds in a duel with the #38 Cadillac.
In the 'best 60% laps average' metric, the #5 Porsche gave up 0.009s and 0.315s respectively to the #38 and #12 V-Series.Rs, proof of the Americans’ superiority.
“Third and fourth place is a very good result for us in terms of the championship,” explained Urs Kuratle, director of factory motorsport LMDh.
“We weren’t able to beat Cadillac today, but we had everyone else in our pocket. Our Porsche 963 worked perfectly, and the team and drivers also did a flawless job over the entire weekend.”
Still, Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed its second podium of the season after finishing runner-up at Le Mans with the No. 6 car, which finished fourth yesterday.
Loser: Peugeot
Despite a BoP as favourable as it gets, Peugeot failed to secure the long-awaited podium. The French manufacturer, despite a clean race with no issues, left Interlagos with only sixth and seventh place finishes.
“We had hoped that Cadillac would be a little less strong in the race, to be honest,” said Peugeot technical director Olivier Jansonnie.
“But from the very start of the race, you could see three cars that were literally flying. We are a bit disappointed with only P6 despite no major mistakes. The race didn’t offer many opportunities. It was a completely green race, no safety car, no VSC. So it was purely down to car pace.”
The new car is still awaited, but fans will have to be patient, it won’t arrive before 2027 at the earliest.
Winner: Cadillac
Seeing Cadillac Team Jota take pole position with Alex Lynn was no surprise. After all, they had already achieved the same feat at the Le Mans 24 Hours a month ago.
But until now, the V-Series.R had tended to fade during the races. To the surprise of even the team itself, that wasn’t the case at Interlagos, where it managed a 1-2 finish after leading 165 of the 242 laps in front of nearly 85,000 enthusiastic fans.
It’s a remarkable feat, considering this was only the fifth race Cadillac and Jota have contested together.
The win went to the trio of Alex Lynn, Will Stevens, and Norman Nato, despite the car being handed a drive-through penalty for failing to meet the recommended tyre pressure at the start.
“This is now year number three racing this car, and honestly, seeing what it has become in the hands of JOTA and what the programme has become as well, I’m extremely grateful to be a part of it and honoured to finally win a race for Cadillac,” said former Williams F1 reserve driver Alex Lynn.
“This is just the beginning. I think we can achieve everything we dream of with this partnership. The sky’s the limit!”
The new method for calculating manufacturer compensation, which now only considers the last two races (and not the best two out of the last three races), undoubtedly helped Cadillac.
The V-Series.R was much faster in Qatar than it had been in Imola or Spa. But the good news is that the collaboration between the American brand and the Sam Hignett, David Clark-led Jota squad is really starting to click.
In its third WEC season covering 20 Hypercar races, Cadillac Racing’s previous best result was third at the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours. Jota Sport had already taken victory at the 2024 Spa 6 Hours with Porsche. With 120 points, Cadillac is now Ferrari’s closest rival in the constructors' championship.
Losers: Alpine & BMW
The new BoP manufacturer compensation system did not help BMW, and even less so Alpine.
That’s because the A424 had performed strongly at both Imola and Spa, finishing in the top three thanks to its impressive pace. So it wasn’t expected to shine at Interlagos.
Finishing ninth in the race is better than 15th and 16th in qualifying, but still far from satisfactory for the trio of Mick Schumacher/Jules Gounon/Frederic Makowiecki. But that’s nothing compared to the sister car, which was sidelined just an hour into the race due to a hybrid issue, losing 56 minutes.
“After qualifying below our expectations, the goal was clearly to move up the order,” said sporting director Nicolas Lapierre.
“The drivers did their part, but we lost a lot of time in traffic at the start of the race. We scored some points, but we were hoping for more. That said, the race was very informative.”
BMW also 'lost' one of its cars right at the start, with Kevin Magnussen having to pit after only nine minutes. The team took 26 minutes to resolve the brake issue on the #15 M Hybrid V8. But seeing the #20 finish fifth ahead of both Peugeots was a pleasant surprise.
“Fifth place for car #20 is the result of an almost flawless race by our team,” said the BMW M Team WRT principal, Vincent Voss.
“Even without the drive-through penalty, there wasn’t more in it. That made us the ‘best of the rest’ here. That’s good, but we want to be on the podium. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough this time.”
Reasonably well-positioned but not the fastest, the BMW M Hybrid V8 could well be one to watch in Austin (September 7).
Winner: Akkodis-ASP
Goodyear debuted its new hard tyre last week in Brazil.
“We have designed it not with additional longevity in mind but to build on the medium’s consistent pace over multiple stints,” commented Mike McGregor, Goodyear’s Head of Endurance Racing.
“Expect to see drivers setting faster lap times well into their second stint, as this tyre keeps its performance at a more consistent level further into its life.”
It was a godsend for Akkodis-ASP and its ageing Lexus RC F, which finally managed to claim its first WEC win with the #87 crew of Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid, and Jose Maria Lopez - still one of the strongest LMGT3 line-ups.
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“With this hard tyre, Goodyear gave us a gift,” admitted team principal Jerome Policand. “And I think we prepared well for its debut in competition. Despite the car’s weight, especially on the front axle, it allows us to remain competitive throughout the race.”
The hard tire will be used again in Austin (September 7) and Bahrain (November 8), but not at Fuji (September 28).
Despite BoP and success handicap, the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 managed to limit the damage by finishing sixth, allowing it to retain the lead in both the teams’ and drivers’ championships.
Loser: The WEC
From a sporting standpoint, Cadillac’s first WEC victory after two and a half seasons is something to celebrate.
The American manufacturer and its new partner Jota Sport clearly deserve it. But we have to admit the race, which wasn’t interrupted by a single safety car, was dreadfully boring in the top class.
This would be acceptable in a championship not governed by BoP, where the best team is simply rewarded, as is the case with McLaren in F1, for example. But here, 90% of the outcome seems dictated by the BoP. Once the BoP values are published, you can practically predict the results...
How can you explain to fans such a drastically different hierarchy compared to the Le Mans 24 Hours? The factory Ferraris and Toyotas couldn’t even finish in the Top 10. Something’s wrong, and the governing bodies need to fix it fast. We’ll come back to this...
Winner: Eduardo 'Dudu' Barrichello
If you watched the race, you must’ve heard and seen the crowd rise to their feet and cheer as Eduardo Barrichello snatched third place in LMGT3 from Michelle Gatting (Porsche 911 GT3 #85) with just under three minutes to go.
Under the eyes of his father Rubens, the 23-year-old Brazilian enjoyed a rock star evening, trailed by hordes of fans. Last Sunday, the star of the race was an LMGT3 driver!
“I’m so happy and so grateful for all the support I received,” he said. “I don’t think I deserve it, but I’m really proud to be Brazilian.”
Just 24 hours after taking pole position, Eduardo Barrichello finished third in the LMGT3 class aboard the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR, claiming his first-ever Endurance racing podium.
The day before, he had already called it the best day of his life. Just imagine how he felt on Sunday...
